Special monument in Riverside honors veterans who have earned Medal of Honor for their service

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- The Riverside National Cemetery is home to the only Medal of Honor Memorial in the country. Every single detail about this memorial has been thought out -- from the materials, colors and the layout of the building.

The unique memorial is located at the south end of the Riverside National Cemetery. The monument lists the names of the more than 3,500 members of the armed forces to earn the Medal of Honor.

"This is the only place in the nation where every recipient of the Medal of Honor is enshrined by name at a single location that is publicly accessible and owned by the people of the United States," said Michael Goldware.

Goldware came up with the idea for the memorial, which was dedicated in 1999. He says there's special meaning behind everything you see, starting with the color of the entrance.

"They're made up of a particular red granite," said Goldware. "That's to remind everyone the cost of freedom and liberty is almost always in blood."

There is also special meaning surrounding the fountain, which lists each and every name on black granite.

"There are 154 jets in here. There were 154 living recipients of the Medal of Honor at the time of the dedication," said Goldware. "This black granite is to remind everyone of the abyss of war."

If you ever come and visit the Medal of Honor Memorial at Riverside National Cemetery, you'll probably notice that of the 3,500 or so people who've gotten the Medal of Honor, only a couple dozen have gotten it over the past 30 plus years. That's because the standards have changed, because the nature of war has changed.

"You now have to do something even more extraordinary than what would have sufficed 50,100 or more years ago, and that's as it should be," said Goldware.

Goldware encourages people to come and honor these heroes and spend time looking at the names, knowing each and every one of them did something the rest of us probably wouldn't.

"We celebrate the actions of Boy Scouts who go running into burning homes to save a family, or first responders who wear badges of stars and shields who move into the line of fire, or the men and women of the armed forces who go deliberately into harm's way - they go counter to the instinctive response," Goldware said.